Opinion

“Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.” –LL Cool J Where do I even begin? That is the question I’ve been asking myself over and over since

This February, Black History month, I reread Margot Lee Shetterly’s terrific historical narrative, “Hidden Figures.”  When it was the Columbia One Read selection a few years ago, I discovered a

On Presidents Day 2020, I offer this remembrance of Dwight D. Eisenhower.   In 1948 while serving as president of Columbia University, Eisenhower wrote an inspiring open letter to America’s

Throughout the long month of January, an almost audible stirring begins in the hearts of all held captive by winter’s icy grip. By February, the hours of daylight are becoming

In Missouri, you never know what January will bring. One day temperatures rise into the 50s, rain falls all night, and creeks run high.  A day later, temperatures dive, and

In my friend Nina’s kitchen near Fayettye, MO, there are traces of distant other worlds, and something is always combusting.  While preparing recipes from her mother’s Indian kitchen a few

American author Louisa May Alcott understood the life-shaping power of growing up with sisters.  Like her, I grew up as one of four sisters. Kit had three older sisters who

Beans don’t always get great press, but being my father’s daughter, our kitchen is never without them. Pinto, kidney, cannellini, garbanzo, navy, black, refried and baked beans are stacked two

This predawn winter morning, icy patches of snow still cover the edges of the meadow near the woods.  A waning crescent moon and bright stars are my only light as

On December 12 at 12:12 a.m., the final full moon of the decade lit up the early morning sky, and stars twinkled like Shiny Brite ornaments from Christmases past.  That